GB308971A - Improvements in or relating to apparatus for use in rescuing men entrapped in a sunken submarine and in rescue buoys therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

308,971. Electric Boat Co., (Assignees of Grieshaber, H. E.). April 2, 1928, [Convention, date]. Buoyant lifesaving chambers.-Means for rescuing the crew of a disabled submarine vessel comprises a body 1 adapted to be lowered from a rescue boat and provided with platforms 4, 12 and a water ballast tank 8, and with a downwardly-extending hatch trunk 26 adapted to enter a hatch trunk 29 in the submarine S; a gasket 28 seats against the submarine to form a tight joint and a soft rubber gasket 37, springs or the like are provided for cushioning. A cable 14 passes into the buoy and contains a cable leading to a telephone 21, a cable 22 for electric lighting and an air-supply pipe 16 ; a valve 20 controls supply of air to the body 1 and a valve 18 controls supply of air to the ballast chamber 8 to empty the latter to give the body a positive buoyancy. Air flasks may replace the air supply pipe 16. The chamber 8 may be flooded through a pipe 10 controlled by a valve 9, the body 1 then having negative buoyancy. The hatch trunks 26, 29, have covers 41, 32 with counterbalancing strings 43, 34; the cover 41 also has a window 53 and a pressure-equalising valve 41<a>. Cables 39 and eyes 38 guide the body 1. Valves are provided to flood and empty the hatch trunk 29. The upper end of the body 1 has a gasket 46 adapted to contact with a similar gasket at the upper end of a downwardly open chamber 48 in a salvage submarine vessel 49 to which the cables 39 may be secured. A hatch 51, with pressureequalizing valve 51a, gives egress to the salvage vessel.